Transit: A Novel | 
so-soNot the groundbreaker that Outline was. But also not a great follow up bc all the characters have Faye‘s voice. While that may have been intentional, whatever magic Cusk wrought before was missing here, though there was the usual accumulation of sharp observations. Will probably read Kudos, but not looking forward to it. Full review https://www.facebook.com/1082882538/posts/pfbid02LNZaWxG4GoZnKrrm1ZkreQhPxaFqCGh...
pickI like "thinky" books where not much happens, so I like Rachel Cusk. (Though her Booker long-listed one was a chore to read.) The sequel to "Outline", once again her MC is revealed more by the people she interacts with than by what she herself says and does. She buys a decrepit flat in London: cue run-ins with obnoxious neighbours, builders, professional colleagues, old flames... all stumbling along, figuring out what it means to belong. Or not.
pickI have just read Rachel Cusk's trilogy. Main charachter, a British writer, travels to Greece in part one, moves to London in part two and goes to Italy in part three. Along the way she meets different people and listens to their, often very interesting, stories. Very good writing, interesting narrative concept, worth reading!
pickAs part of my own #readingenvysummerreading challenge, I finished this trilogy - by reading the middle book! I don't know why I read these out of order but they work that way too.
These books by Rachel Cusk are such a pleasure to read but difficult to discuss later. The narrator tells the stories of the people she encounters and it feels, at times, profound. I think the final book, Kudos, might be my favorite.
I'm participating in a casual #readathon this Memorial Day weekend on Instagram called #bookoffimreading (🤣) and I have *already* broken my planned TBR (mostly buddy reads I'm due to finish, whoops) to hop to the tagged book by Rachel Cusk. This is the sequel to her book Outline that I ADORED. Has anyone read the trilogy?? Or loved Outline as much as me?!??? 💙
This is the perfect weekend for a readathon because it is SO rainy out right now.🌧️
I literally let out an "really?" over this, it's just so close to self-parody. All adults look like weirdly aged babies, except for the few who look like they were born old. Very sad that it takes me a fortnight nowadays to read a short novel. Longing for a proper sized book but pain and anguish stands in the way of that. It's just impossible to imagine being in a different place & inhibiting a different body at this level of, well, suffering :/
so-soWhile the first book in the series, “Outline,” blew me away with its originality, this one, disappointingly, felt like I was performing the same exercise for a third week in a row—one that my muscles were already so accustomed to that they were no longer being broken down to, then, in turn, rebuild.
I craved something more: to pull it out of stasis; to give the series a flow. I really think Cusk missed out on a chance to elevate things.
this has happened to me too. a sudden funhouse mirror effect takes hold of reality and permanently disrupts your perception of it. this is one of many reasons i don't do any drugs (anymore). no hairdresser ever speaks this much to me though. they read my face and don't even bother trying.
i think i have book synaesthesia or something. the first cover i see just clings to my mental image of it forever, like it does an imprint, a sort of mood that i start associating with it... forever. this american cover on the left is as painfully on the nose as the last one, but with a pretty colour theme. the right one is my aesthetic and my sole reason for reading these hah. ok the writing is fine too
Not a big romance reader, so I‘m gonna skip riot grams today, but that‘s alright cause a new book store opened in town last month and I finally visited. It‘s beside a coffee shop!! New and used books AND IT‘S BEAUTIFULLY CURATED!! So many good books! I got two!
pickAnother strong installment of Cusk's unusual style of writing where she observes life from being told stories, rather than being the protagonist of the story. I may not have loved this as much as the first book but it's still a very good book and I'll definitely be reading the next book right away.
February was a weird reading month- it started with a bang with Transit- which is easily one of the best books I‘ll read this year. I had a few other strong reads, including my #readharder2019 selections for the month. I was underwhelmed by a couple of anticipated library reads and our two #indiebuddyreads selections tanked for me this month. Onwards to March and hopefully a more consistent reading month.
pickTransit is another work of genius. Back in London, the conversations the Faye has in this novel centre on relationships, how we make them and break them, and both love and terrorise each other within their bonds. Underneath all this is a fearful narrative of change. Where many stories centre on our fear of change and the unknown, Cusk‘s novel is one grounded in the fear that change will never come, and that everything will remain as it always was.
Can‘t wait to read this any longer
pickThe second novel in Cusk‘s trilogy.
The female MC is still recounting conversations she has with people she meets. And as she does the importance of being seen and ignored are looked at. Even more important is the focus on family and parent/ child relations and how this will impact you for a long time.
The two remaining books from my #MakeMeReadIt stack.
The Siege by Dunmore is about WW2 and after finishing The Return, I‘m just not in the mood for another war novel.
Going through my reading journal I discovered that I read Last Man Standing by Baldacci some 10 yrs ago 🤦♀️ I usually don‘t forget reading a book, so this probably says something about how I feel about this one.
So I‘ve started the tagged novel instead.
so-soDon't get me wrong, I surely appreciate all the fine writerly qualities of this book, but OMG what a crashing bore. So many dreary vignettes, one after another, made mining the many verbal nuggets a miserable task. I guess I'm glad I read the book - Cusk's storytelling is innovative, but there was nothing pleasurable about it. Kind of like innovative mucilage - glad it's there, but not exactly a source of delight.
pickI‘m so enjoying this trilogy by Rachel Cusk. The third and final book is coming out June 5. So, now is a great time to start and savor these books. Transit is the second.
#TBRTuesday
Knocking out a few ARCs this week. And, yes, I‘m still slowly chipping away at The Complete Sherlock Holmes, but I‘m coming to grips that I won‘t likely finish for a long while!
Does anyone else find themselves powerless to resist the magic of Indigo's boxing week sale? #Canadianlittenproblems #allthebooks 🇨🇦
The best sequel and one of the best books I read this year.
#bestsequelyouread #allthebooksof2017
pickWow. Loved this. I felt like I had to be in an alert state of mind to appreciate the brilliant writing; it's sharp and subtle at the same time. A novel about interior lives that made me think. Smart, funny and humane.
I was surprised by her age, which I would have guessed to be at least ten years younger, though hers wasn't the strenuous youthfulness of active self-preservation; rather, she merely looked as if she had avoided exposure, like a fold in a curtain that remains unfaded because it never sees the sun.
Eloise drew close and plucked at my clothes, tutting. 'Always so dark,' she said. I could smell her perfume. She herself was wearing a soft knitted dress made of cream-coloured yarn. She drew still closer, scrutinizing my face. She brushed her fingertips over my cheek and then stood back to examine them. 'I just wondered what you were wearing on your skin,' she said. 'You're very pale.'
(Photo of Rachel Cusk from internet)
Breakfast of champions: pumpkin pie with pumpkin spice ice cream. (Leftover from the literary salon we hosted yesterday evening.) Then I'm going to finish the last 50 pages of Transit. 🎃
There was an apple tree that drooped amidst its own rotted, fallen fruit and a dominating conifer that had forced the surrounding trees to grow at strange angles, so that they appeared frozen in postures of madness or distress.
New book (from the library) and a brand new tea—Coconut Earl Grey—from Jenny @ReadingEnvy .
(It's delicious.) 😊
pickA story told almost in fragments, by a narrator relating incidents and conversations as though they are each happening independently when of course they are all connected. A sort of sequel to Outline (at least it is the same narrator) but this time she is back in London and her flat is being renovated and so she feels dislocated and unsettled.
Definitely over-identifying with this description of traveling, especially backpacking. #amreading
pickWhat a bittersweet feeling to finish. I've loved every minute spent w/ the transitory people filing the pages of Transit. There is so much to ponder here. It is rich with meaning, filled with both observation and insight that bears rereading. #BookBingoNW2017
The narrator is sitting on a panel at a literary festival with authors of memoirs. This quote reminds me why I enjoy some books from the beginning and why I feel disconnected from others. The authors has not successfully wooed me, the reader.
pickAfter reading Outline, I pretty much knew what to expect - fascinating, varied conversations, occasionally tied together loosely by a plot. What stood out to me this time were several jolting, cathartic moments - it really takes some dark, emotional, and unexpected turns. I loved it.
"Also, at other times, she remembered things as if they'd happened to her personally when in fact they were only things she'd read. She could swear on her life that this or that scene existed in her own memory, and actually it was nothing to do with her at all."
Any Littens have that experience? ?
Love this book. Rachel Cusk might be my new #obsession
#maybookflowers @RealLifeReading
I have fallen hopelessly in love with Rachel Cusk. First Outline. Now Transit. Reading her reminds me a bit of reading Elena Ferrante. Their styles, subject matters are very different. But they both are attempting to write women's lives in ways that are rich, complex, and compelling. Her books are not plot driven but shaped around daily interactions and conversations. I find it so fascinating.
pickOh my goodness. This was SUCH. A wonderful book. I loved OUTLINE, but Cusk has exceeded my expectations with this one. So very smart. I wanted to underline ALL OF IT. Already looking forward to a reread.
Book tour reading. I adored OUTLINE and this one is, I can already tell, going to be just as fantastic.
pickRachel Cusk is the female version of Knausgaard but without all the banal details of daily life. I am in awe of her emotional/psychological astuteness. I've been reading mostly ebooks lately so no good bookish photos but I will put up a crappy iPhone pic of last nights sunset here in podunk Minnesota. Glad to be back on Litsy after a bit of a hiatus
pickI could quote and quote from this book. Cusk quietly looks at an ordinary life and holds it up to the light. Not much happens. People talk. Much to think about. I love the cover, which an afternote says is a photograph by Man Ray.
